Opportunity Assessments ©:
This unique offering provides you and your organization with a full review of your operations which identify cost and profit centers and seeks to identify new sources of operational revenue. Oftentimes organizations have many opportunities to enhance their offerings, create new revenue producing programs and improve margins on activities already in place. In addition the organizational review can, often, identify cost savings through gentle organizational strategies. Many of these revenue tactics go unseen but are readily identified by a new and experienced set of eyes.
Fund Raising:
Always an area of need, we provide sound advice on various fund raising strategies for staff and trustees and create a list of tactics designed for a successful increase in revenue. We also provide training for boards on their general fund raising responsibilities as well as teaching board and staff the preparatory work necessary before a capital campaign. We do not provide other capital campaign services outside of the educational mission above.
Governance:
There are varying levels at which boards operate effectively from the “roll up your sleeves” hands on type board to the corporate oversight and policy type board. All types of organizational leadership can benefit by self-assessment, establishing goals, rebuilding transitioning boards, evaluating board-staff relationships and looking at best practices in similar organizations across the land. This service is very personalized and aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the entire organization.
Collections Management:
Many smaller institutions lack the expertise to properly care for the objects in their collections. This service provides everything collection and object related from staff training in the industry standard, universally accepted policies to the creation of a full Collections Management Plan specifically written for your institution. We also provide board training in collections management.
Object Appraisals:
We have experienced experts in, virtually, every field of historic objects including fine art, decorative arts, military objects, arms and armor and material culture from prehistoric to modern day. Appraisals are regularly required for insurance and, in some cases, for accessioning and de-accessioning programs.
Visitor Experience Studies:
Museums and visitor themed attractions provide a range of visitor experiences which, in many cases, can be inconsistent and of varying quality. This service assesses the experiences currently available, how they are perceived by visitors and offers a tactical report on how the experience can be enhanced, standardized at various levels of immersion and new experiences created designed to engage, capture and endear the visitor to your institution.
Disaster Planning and Recovery:
Is your organization and its staff and board prepared for the unexpected? All disasters don’t necessarily involve the destruction of property although the great majority are related to weather or negligence. Other organizational disasters can be found in the form of fraud, theft, law suits and bad public relations. This service not only collaboratively creates the disaster plan but also includes training on how to react to a major disaster. Your organization’s response in the first 48 hours will often define whether and institution will survive or not.
Non-Profit Management:
In general non-profit organizations are very unique with a specific mission oriented focus. They don’t operate anything like the corporate world or the public sector. Understating the basics of non-profit management is a vital key to success. This is an educational service which provides and overview of current practices, matches them up with industry standards and best practices to produce recommendations where management and operational changes can take place to advance the organization to a new level of excellence.
Planning for Small Organizations:
For our planning services we specialize in strategic short and long range planning for institutions and organizations that operate annually at $1 million or less. Planning services involve the collaborative creation of an achievable plan, realistic goals and a good system of accountability so the plan actually comes to fruition instead of sitting on the proverbial dusty shelf.
Ethics:
Non-profit organizations like museums, charities, attractions and institutions all have very unique sets of ethical standards. General ethics are, mostly, common knowledge in business but mission related ethics are not understood by most trustees and staff at non-profits. This service defines ethical standards for organizations which include general principals but concentrates on specific mission related ethical standards than are unique to each type of organization and institution. We also provides a written Code of Ethics for employees and trustees to formally uphold and subscribe to.